


Goldshadow

by taichara



Category: Kingdom Hearts Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-23
Updated: 2019-09-23
Packaged: 2020-10-26 13:14:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20742785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taichara/pseuds/taichara
Summary: In a prison not of his own making, Ventus gets the impulse for freedom he needs from an unexpected source.  Two of them, in fact.





	Goldshadow

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Serie11](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Serie11/gifts).

_: How long do you plan to rot here? :_

_: Don't think I can't tell you can hear me, Ventus. I know you're in here with me. It's "you" after all, right? :_

_: So come on. :_

Oh, Ven heard him, alright, but that didn't mean he had to respond. It was better to keep on hanging in the nothing than indulge his shadow for even a moment's breath, he was sure of it, and even though he kept on failing he hung onto that belief with mulish stubbornness. Vanitas was _not_ getting the better of him again. 

_: Look what we've found. :_

_: Look what I've found. :_

What would it take to be able to ignore Vanitas forever? Ven had no idea; no more than he knew -- consciously knew -- a way out of wherever it was, _what_ever it was, that kept him sleeping in the darkness of his own mind. 

Maybe he didn't _want_ to ignore Vanitas. Maybe that was the problem. Ignoring that dark splinter meant ignoring the danger he posed, and the lingering question how any shred of him even still existed. Didn't Ven bring him to bay here, inside his own heart --?

_: But I am you, Ventus. :_

_: All you did was make me give up my grip. :_

_: But you can't deny me. You never could. And I'm going to make sure of that. :_

… But did he ever get tiring to listen to. It was almost enough to make Ven want to drop back into sleep again and stay there, but he knew that wasn't an option -- not really. Not now; no matter how much it soured his guts to admit that anything Vanitas whispered to him could actually be right.

He needed to get out of … whatever this was. But he was going to do it his way, curse it.

_I'm not "rotting" here, I'm waiting._

_: Waiting for what? :_

_I'll know when it happens. Besides, I know I'm not strong enough yet, because I used up all of me making sure you didn't start another Keyblade War._

_: Funny you mention that. Look. :_

Look? Look at what? There was nothing in here but the two of them, and Vanitas barely counted. Ven snorted into the nothing -- then choked on the retort still forming words in his thoughts when the nothing erupted in bright visions.

In _memory_.

… _His_ memories?

Memories of …

Memories of a city he'd never seen before, except he obviously _did_, washed with the morning light. Memories of more Keyblade bearers than he'd ever imagined possible. Memories of brilliant light and jousting against those same Keyblade bearers in competition, all hunting creatures of darkness; jousting and competing at the request -- at the _command_ \-- of witchling-strange Masters in ornate animal masks …

Memories of blood, and battle, and rain splattering into the dust of --

_That's the badlands! That's --_

_: The Keyblade Graveyard, the site of the Keyblade War, yeah yeah. Good to know you aren't entirely stupid. See anything different about it? :_

Did he. _Did_ he. He wasn't stupid and it was impossible to miss what was missing -- the _Keyblades_. Because all those Keyblade bearers were falling _now_/then to leave them there --

Old, old pain rippled through Ven and he pushed back against the nothing holding him. The memory-visions swam and he clamped down, refusing to lose them, refusing to _forget_ again, because it was all trickling in and somehow, somehow it _was_ real, he knew it was.

He knew who he was.

He had to get out. He had to let Terra know, to let Aqua know …

For the first time in eternity, Ventus fought, and darkling laughter trickled into his ears.


End file.
